Creating a memory box

For some people your university career will be coming to an end this summer. As a lot of people move away from home for university, it is likely they could be moving back to their hometown or moving away to a different city for work once university ends. I thought it would be a great idea to get a few things together to remind you of your time at university and for those that are moving away, something to remind you of the place you lived for three years, maybe more.

The first thing you could include is something that is personal to you. You could put a few photos in from your time at university.

Photos of:

you with your friends and flatmates

some that you had up in your room while you were there, so maybe some of your family members or older photos you’ve had for a while

photos that remind you of the time you were at uni

You could also add a university t-shirt or jumper. I think all universities do their own products so say if you were at Sheffield Hallam University, you could get a jumper which says ‘SHU’ on it and they have loads of colours to choose from.

When you first start university there is the famous Freshers Week and during this time you will be handed a huge amount of fliers. Some of these for bars and clubs and others for shops and takeaways. You can also get handed things like this just walking around your local town so these would be great to include too.

There are so many famous cities in the UK so a good idea would be to include something that your city is known for. If you live in Manchester you could include leaflets to the main shopping centre which is the Trafford Centre, for example. The popular band Oasis is from Manchester so you could add a CD or poster, some sort of merchandise of theirs. For Sheffield, the steel city, you could add just a small stainless steel spoon. These are all little things but great, funny reminders of the city you were living in! Sheffield is also famous for Henderson’s Relish so you could have a bottle of this in your memory box too. Another city you could do this for is Liverpool. Everyone knows this is where the Beatles are from so you could have some sort of memorabilia of them or just a photo of some sort. The last place I thought of was London. There are so many attractions in London, you could include so many photos of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Downing Street, Oxford Street etc.

I think it is also a great idea to include a few shopping bags from stores you can’t get in other places. I know you can get Selfridges in other areas but the main one is in London so you could have one of their little yellow bags. You could also have one from Harrods and the biggest toy store Hamleys. Something you could put in the box for any city in the UK is a scarf or t-shirt from the main football team.

It is always good to remember your time at uni (good times and bad) so to have some sort of memory box to look back on once you’ve left university will ensure you always have something to remind you of your time there!